Just a reminiscent of the past. I’m about 9 & just entered Primary 3 when my parents move us to Maluri & finally settled down there. Just a year after I moved there, I’ve made friends in school & stayed with them till we moved on to secondary school. For a reason, I then got myself separated from my primary best friend, White Photo & join up with Potato, a quiet classmate from primary school. Potato & a few others went on to become my only childhood friends which we still keep in touch to date.
Potato is a very quiet person. He’s barely noticeable in primary class simple because he’s just too shy & quiet. Between 1986 to 1992, he’s much shorter then me then but is much rounder than me & hence I nick named him Potato. We entered secondary school upon graduating from primary school & eventually become best friends after my primary best friend, White Photo, turned his back on me. He turned from best friend to a friend bully in secondary school. Sad, cause from then on, I never keep him in contact even though we are in the same school for 5 long years.
For a couple of years, me & Potato spend a lot of time together after school going together to tuition classes. Jalan Kepong then is only a 4 lane trunk road with much lesser traffic then it is now so we used to just walk to the tuition centre at Desa Jaya. A good 1/2 hour walk from school.
As quiet & round as Potato maybe, he is a friend that helped me to discover many things during my early teenage years. He brought me for my first railway crossing. We encouraged each other to venture & explore the place that we lived in & occasionally even venture a little further into the industrial area or the abandoned development hill for some adventure. We spend many hours waking along railways when the KTM Komuter’s double tracking railway was still under construction. Then, we only have our feet & later bicycle to rely on but it’s fun.
The places that we used to venture does not exist anymore. For example, the small railway crossing that we used to cross into Kepong Baru is now replaced by a large overhead bridge for cars. The railway on the other hand have been expanded in to a 4 railways track instead of 2 because of the construction of a Komuter station. It’s now just too dangerous to cross the railway anymore when they completed the KTM Komuter line. You now run the risk of being either electrocuted or smashed to bits by on coming train. I notice that the trains don’t honk as frequently as they do anymore. This may be due to the fact that residential area are being build nearer to railways due to the shortage of land in & surrounding the Klang Valley.
The abandoned development hill that we used to climb (sometimes with our bicycle), is now finally a multi million residential area for the rich. Gone were the old trails left by the heavy construction vehicle with trees growing beside it. The road that we used to walk to Desa Jaya for tuition is now too dangerous to walk all thanks to Samy Vellu. (>0<)
The self fulfilling prophecy story began one day when me & Potato are walking home after school the topic of girlfriends & our future came about. He told me that his mother has, to some degree some ability to read peoples future & reveal a little about my future. Before that, I have went to his house a few times & met his mother. Being curious about my future, I literally pester him to tell more about my predicted future & ask about some of his for comparison. I remember most of what was being told & never forget about it.
We are 14 then & are looking around for girlfriends. Well, what can you expect from 2 hot blooded young boys going thru puberty with too much television influence? What passed through our minds is just one simple question. How come we could not get any … ahem … pretty girls as close friends or just, … well. friends? It’s then that he told me that I will eventually get a girlfriend. Further arm twisting from me made him reveal to me that I will also get married & have children before he does.
But this is not a story about me. It’s a story about him. I did asked him another question. If his mom can tell so much about me, what about his? I didn’t know what made me ask that question but I did remember most part of the answer given. He briefly lets me know what his mom says about his future. Accordingly, he may or may not get married & even if he did eventually get married, it will be a late marriage. I could not recall the part where he said whether if he will have any children so I’m leaving that topic out.
When we graduated from Secondary School & moved on to college, specifically Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC). Potato did not stay long in TARC & dropped out of it soon after. He then moved into the hospitality industry to work while I struggle on between college & work for the next 5 years after TARC. We did not keep in contact for over 2 years until I took the time to look for my secondary school buddies again.
Potato struggle in the hospitality industry for 2-3 years before eventually quitting the hospitality industry & moved back into his family’s business. When I caught up with him again, he relate many stories about the little secrets inside the hospitality industry that’s not known to many of us … including many juicy ones & we have stayed in touch ever since. (^_^)
On & off during the few years before he got married, he did hooked up with a few girl but it all turn out to be bad. For a period of about 2 years, he met a few girls with the biker gangs that he joined up. Hmmm … biker gangs. Well, they are not Mat Rempits but big bike lovers. The type where they own huge bikes like Harley Davidson, Honda Goldwing, BMW & etc. He’s bike is not the best but he did ‘invest’ in a 250cc Kawasaki Ninja of which, the engine sound is loud enough to put him in the same category as these bikers.
The big bikers are mostly about 40 years & above. Somehow, they always have young chicks in their 20s tagging with them. for joy rides. How did they got & meet these chicks, beats me, but that’s how Potato met his future girlfriends. In a nutshell, not only that the relationship with the biker girls turn out bad, it made him poorer. Disappointed with life & the relationships he is in, he finally took the advise that we gave him & concentrate on his family’s business.
So how is Potato nowadays? Well, we don’t meet up as regularly as we used to but I do know that right now, he is managing his own business well & is probably working hard right now. Good for him. (^0^)
His mother’s prediction did came true. I got married & have a kid before he does.
